Navy Pier Engagement Photo Ideas — WE MOVED! Visit ashleyburk.com

After a month of patiently waiting for our full-size files to arrive they’re finally here! While I’d love to upload and share all 400+ images, that’d take a lot of time to edit down to a shareable file size, so we picked out our favorites for this post. We also want to talk a little bit about how the day ran for other brides and grooms looking to take Navy Pier engagement photos.

Interested in the logistics? I’m sharing a bunch of good-to-know details for navigating a Navy Pier photoshoot at the end of this post. Check them out if you’re thinking about having your engagement (or any other) photo shoot at Navy Pier in Chicago!

Now, let’s check out the photos, broken down by their various locations.

Milton Lee Olive Park

Kevin proposed on one of the outlooks in Olive Park on December 23, 2017, so this stop was a must. This park is located right on the lake between Navy Pier and Lake Shore Drive.

Photoshoot or not, this park is a beautiful place to visit. It’s great for picnics, exercise, and even a wedding! I’ve seen my fir share of weddings at this park over the years.

The Polk Bros Park

This is the area just outside the Chicago Children’s Museum at the entrance of Navy Pier. Until our engagement photoshoot I didn’t even know this area had a name!

Boardwalk Navy Pier Engagement Photos

We started walking down the pier and stopped at various locations that looking appealing or our photographer saw as a great photo op.

Catching these gorgeous cherry blossoms while they’re in bloom was AWESOME! This is right at the very entrance next to the boardwalk.

These tree lined photos were actually just to the right of the cherry blossom photos. The boardwalk entrance is adorned with trees on either side and our photographer saw the perfect opportunity for some photos!

This cool architecture is about 1/3 a way down the boardwalk and is just the side of a random building. Looked cool, so we took some snaps here.

Navy Pier Ferris Wheel and Merry-Go-Round

What’s more fun than a carnival? Not much! We definitely wanted to get some fun photos. We’re a goofy couple of people, so we thought our photos should reflect that!

Navy Pier Ferris Wheel Engagement Photos

Plus, look how cool and colorful these shots came out. I have alllll the heart eyes over here!

The ice cream was half an excuse to take close up ring photos but also a nice little refresher halfway through. Hot tip!

Indoors Navy Pier Engagement Photos

There’s some cool art inside Navy Pier. Even if it’s gorgeous outside, head inside briefly to make sure you’re not missing out on some cool, near and dear photo ops.

For us, these Chicago art photos were perfect. We ‘re from Chicagoland and lived in the actual city for years, so these will always be special to us.

And in case you haven’t noticed, I love to cook and bake. So these “Life is Sweet” wall art shots were picture perfect.

Navy Pier Life is Sweet Engagement Photos

Plus, these lights were also cool to capture. I’m telling you, don’t sleep on the indoor photos.

Crystal Gardens at Navy Pier

I can’t stress enough that this spot is a MUST if you’re doing photos at Navy Pier. It’s also climate controlled indoors so it’s great for rain-outs, days when it’s too hot or just taking a break from the outdoors.

Polk Bros Park Fountain

I spotted this fountain on the way in and knew I wanted to get some shots here, but not until after we got all the other ones. Because as you can see, this was a shoes-off, cool-down situation.

This is a really fun spot for photos because Kev and I played in the water, had fun and forgot we were even being photographed.

Not sure why he thought he wasn’t going to get wet… ha!

Are You Considering Navy Pier Engagement Photos?

We both really recommend it! We’re both fun, free-spirited people who knew we wanted a few traditional romantic shots but to also be surrounded by fun. What better place for a twist of both than by a Ferris wheel and merry-go-round?

If you’re thinking of shooting at Navy Pier, we recommend scheduling your session around 10 am or earlier if it’s in/around summertime. Our session was on Memorial Day Weekend and it ended up being a hotter day. We had our photo shoot from 10-11:30 am and avoided a better chunk of the unbearable heat, thankfully.

The Logistics of a Navy Pier Photoshoot

We started at Milton Lee Olive Park and then walked over to shoot both inside and outdoors at Navy Pier, all within our 90-minute session time frame. It was more than enough time and we never felt rushed. Olive Park is a five minute walk off the north side of the pier, which made it perfect to get some shots in the park and also fun shots at the pier. Truth be told, we did a lot of wandering and stopping at spots we were drawn towards, hardly any of it was planned out ahead of time.

Where can we take Navy Pier Engagement Photos?

Literally all over. I just kept pointing out spots that caught my eye to our photographer (because I’m a crazy person with a million different visions/ideas, but it really paid off here) and she happily obliged, doing the same.

“Navy Pier” stone wall is right at the entrance by the Chicago Children’s Museum
On the top deck by the Ferris wheel and merry-go-round
- Side note: they wouldn’t let us sneak on without buying a ticket so we shot in front which I think turned out even better. Looking back, it’d be too hard/awkward to do in a dress anyway.
Crystal Gardens – this is where our pictures with the greenery were all taken. This is perfect if you get rained out (or it’s incredibly hot that day) and can’t/don’t want to reschedule.
The tree lined part of the pier right as you walk on
Polk Bros Park (the fountain and park area just out front of the pier)
Milton Lee Olive Park (“Olive Park”)
- Side note: the park is not actually part of Navy Pier but is only a block inland down Illinois Street, before you cross under Lake Shore Drive. This is where we met our photographer and got started. We got the great skyline and park shots here (and this is also where Kevin proposed, so it was special to us).
Various modern walls and pieces of art scattered throughout the pier – both in and outdoors – keep your eyes open!

Our Amazing Wedding Photographer

A HUGE thank you to Vanessa Buholzer for her amazing shots. She really captured some great moments, I feel like I’m reliving that very moment every time I look at one of the photos. George Street really did a lovely job of enhancing and editing the photos to bring out the color, just like we asked. If you follow me/the blog you’ve probably guessed I love a world filled with bright, vibrant color – and they provided just that.